Tale of Two Boondoggles...

That's the title of Don Woodard's latest dissertation in the Fort Worth Business Press.

YOU should pay attention, YOU can't afford not to.

And all you Merle Haggard fans, be sure and check it out.  Don't say you weren't warned.

The tollway was built over the objections of many farmers in the area whose land was legally taken for a highway by eminent domain. For the Trinity River Vision boondoggle, dozens of property owners were forced off their land not to build a highway but for economic development. A large area centered by White Settlement Road, which once flourished in taxpaying businesses, now lies nude and barren waiting for multimillionaire land developers to move in like carpetbaggers. Waving the banner of "flood control" – the promoters acquired this property of "the little people" by eminent domain – or the Sword of Damocles threat thereof.

But it's NOT primarily for flood control. The lion's share, $425 million, is for economic development. The Corps of Engineers has estimated that only $10 million is required for flood control. The Eminent Domain Economic Development Juggernaut of 21st Century Texas, unlike the tanks of China, takes neither pity nor note of the poor little property owner standing in defiance.

Woodard: Fast lane to failure – a tale of two boondoggles?